• Seasonal Fruits

    by emily • August 31, 2009 • baking • 2 Comments

    Yesterday was Exchange Studios end of summer BBQ. This one is different b/c the meat and beer is c/o our property manager. Yay free food!

    He has a crazy smoker grill, and made some of the best pulled pork I’ve ever had.

    For this BBQ, I decided I would test out my new oven* and bake some cookies.

    I’ve gotten Figs twice now in my box. I didn’t know what to do with them, so the first batch got moldy by the time I made a game plan. Thankfully, the recipe I created only needed 1 pint.

    These are the different kinds of figs. I used Mission Figs.

    Fig stuffed Sugar Cookies
    based on the traditional Italian Treat Cucidati
    Dough
    4 1/2 c flour
    1 t salt
    1 t baking powder
    1 1/4 c cold cubed butter
    1/2 plus some 1ce water
    Filling
    1 pint figs diced
    water to cover
    2 heaping T of honey
    1/2 cup white sugar
    3/4 c ground almonds
    1/4 c ground pine nuts
    1/2 c rasins
    Glaze
    Confectioner’s sugar
    milk
    extra powder to top
    Method:
    Cube the figs and set in a sauce pot with a nice layer of water to cover. Add honey and sugar. Bring to boil and simmer until an almost jelly is formed. This takes a considerable period of time so be prepared. While that is boiling grind the nuts to a powder. Leaving some larger chunks is also nice, but most of the mixture should be gorund fine, but not to a paste.
    Make the dough in a traditional pastry sense. Sift dry, add butter, pinch with fingers to pea size, add 1/2 c water, add remaing water to form the final dough. If your fig misture is not ready place the dough in the refrigerator to keep solid and cold.
    When the fig saice has reduced to a thick, wonderful jelly, remove from heat and add the nuts and rasins. The mixture should be moderatly moist and moderatly dry. You want it to be moist enough to be yummy, but firm enough to hold up as a filling. So keep this in mind when reducing the fig sauce.
    Preheat the oven to 275
    Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/8- 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 3″ strips and place filling down the center of each stip. Fold over the sides and crease with a fork. Cut into 1″ squares. Place on a baking sheet with parchment and bake until the bottoms are golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Add glaze as they leave the oven. Place on cooling rack. Sprinkle with more sugar. Comsume.

    *yes, i got a new oven the day after the crows flew. Still electric, but thankfully new.

    Edit: My sister informed me I neglected to say how they came out! They were so good! Ultimate success. I couldn’t believe it. I half expected them to be less than palitable, but they were good! Most of them were gone before dinner :)

    About emily

    The Story of Miz Emily

    Told by VBar

    Miz Emily, crow extraordinaire, hails originally from Connecticut and moved to Boston for college in 2004. She and Vbar met their first semester freshman year at Northeastern University and bonded immediately over their love of fresh food, the middle east and the likelihood that they will never get decently paying jobs. In the proceeding years, Emily lived first in the Mission Hill area of Boston before moving out to Jamaica Plain to roost. In the summer of 2008 Emily migrated west to San Francisco she still lives with her man Billy. Emily loves global travel and has spent time backpacking around Europe as well as in Turkey and Brazil.

    Emily’s cooking style can be described as clean, natural and adventurous. Never one to back down from a challenge, can-not-do is not a phrase in her pantry. A master of substitutions, she rarely follows a recipe exactly, often with deliciously innovative results.  Always one to be inspired by her surroundings, she enjoys shopping for new and inexpensive ingredients in farmers markets and ethnocentric neighborhoods, in particular Chinatown. Emily’s meals are strongly tied to the seasons particularly since she is lucky enough to have access to fresh California produce. Emily’s strong caw and yummy mowables make her a truly upstanding west-coast representative for the Crows.

    http://crowsinthekitchen.com

    2 Responses to Seasonal Fruits

    1. Vbar
      August 31, 2009 at 8:16 pm

      mmmhumm. fresh figs are my favorite. I could live off them; but they are none to be found up here in the northeast. I'm jealous!

    2. riane
      September 2, 2009 at 11:35 am

      but cross the border and voila!

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